‘Until my freedom has come – The new intifada in Kashmir’

‘Until my freedom has come – The new intifada in Kashmir’, a book, which is a compilation of essays written on Kashmir, edited by noted filmmaker Sanjay Kak was released here on Sunday.

At an impressive function, Sunday afternoon, Kak said the book represented a ‘definitive moment’ in the history of Kashmir as it contained writings of both Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri writers. He said the writings were ‘representative samples of change in mind’ caused by the last year’s summer unrest. Kak termed the protests of 2010 as ‘intifada of mind pushing aside chains of oppression’.
Speaking on the occasion, Najeeb Mubarki of Economic Times said there had been a change in thinking of a section of people on the Kashmir issue outside the state who earlier thought that the ‘movement’ in Kashmir was ideologically driven by Islamists. However, he said the change had been ‘forced’ and their only had been a ‘dent’ in the thinking process. Mubarki said a lot needed to be done still in enforcing a change and that the released book would prove helpful to a certain extent in this regard.

He said the Kashmiri people had crossed the stage where they needed protests to prove their point. “Do we need to protest? We have done that. Now, we need to expand the boundaries….we (Kashmiris) should represent ourselves rather than wait for others to represent us,” Mubarki said.

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Novelist Mirza Waheed termed the 90’s a ‘period of silence’ where writers did not have the proper means of venting their thoughts. He said times had changed now; however, it just ‘marks the beginning of the shift’.

Contributors to the book – research scholars, Saiba Verma and Mohammad Junaid, also spoke on the occasion.
Later, the floor was thrown open for discussions over the book and other issues related to Kashmir. Senior journalist Parvaiz Bukhari conducted the proceedings of the event that was held at the Grand Mumtaz hotel. Incidentally, ‘Until my freedom has come – The new intifada in Kashmir’ was first released in New Delhi last month.

Bukhari said the second release of the book in the city was imperative as it was about Kashmir.

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